I am a Catholic layperson and Secular Franciscan with a sense of humor. After years in the back pew watching, I have moved into the choir. It's nice to see faces instead of the backs of heads. But I still maintain God has a sense of humor - and that we are created in God's image.

Monday, March 12, 2007

A Bell for Padre Pio

Construction on the St. Padre Pio Chapel next to the Italian Americna Community Center in Gates, N.Y. ( a suburb of Rochester) has not yet started, but they already have a bell with Rochester and Italian roots.

As reported in the Italian American Community News, the bell from old St. Lucy's Church has been donated to the founders of the new chapel, Filomena and Olindo di Francesco. The bell is engraved "Santa Lucia, 1913." That's the year St. Lucy's was built.

St. Lucy's Parish served the Italian community here in Rochester, and even held Masses in Italian. It closed in 1975 due to dwindling attendance, and the building sold to Lilly of the Valley, a Christian church.

The old church building burned down in 2000, but the bell was salvaged.

What a neat story. That bell that rang out for Rochester's Italian Americans will eventually be part of a chapel dedicated to a remarkable modern Italian saint.

3 Comments:

How will the chapel be organized and staffed -- under the auspices of a religious order? I'm going to link to this post on my site very soon. As you may know, this group once considered purchasing Ss. Peter & Paul, recently sold to the Copts.

It's being built on the grounds of the Italian American Community Center. The couple who started the project are devotees of St. Pio. I don't know if any particular order is involved. It may be that the chapel is being built and will be available for services, but not formally "staffed" - that would be my guess. But I could be wrong. I will check into it.